Running XAMPP on Ubuntu

XAMPP is a free and open-source software package that provides an easy way to set up and run a local web server environment on various operating systems, including Ubuntu.

The acronym stands for Cross-Platform (X), Apache (A), MySQL (M), PHP (P), and Perl (P), representing its core components. XAMPP is especially useful for web developers as it includes all the essential tools required to develop, test, and debug web applications in a local environment before deploying them to a live server.

Development

On Ubuntu, XAMPP simplifies the process of managing a web server by packaging Apache, the popular HTTP server, alongside MySQL (or MariaDB in recent versions) for database management and PHP/Perl for server-side scripting. These components are configured to work together seamlessly, eliminating the need for manual configuration and reducing potential compatibility issues. Once installed, XAMPP can be started and managed from the terminal or a graphical control panel, providing control over the running services and allowing developers to enable or disable Apache, MySQL, and ProFTPD as required.

When developing websites, place project files in the /opt/lampp/htdocs directory, as this is the root directory for Apache in XAMPP. You may need root privileges to add or edit files in this location. Adjusting permissions can be done with sudo chown -R your-username /opt/lampp/htdocs to allow easier file management without elevated privileges.

Important Commands

How to start XAMPP in Ubuntu

To start XAMPP run the following and the command will return a list of running services:

sudo /opt/lampp/lampp start

How to stop XAMPP in Ubuntu

To stop XAMPP run the command below and it will return a list of the stopped services.

sudo /opt/lampp/lampp stop

How to restart XAMPP in Ubuntu

To restart XAMPP run the command below and it will stop and restart the running services.

sudo /opt/lampp/lampp restart

Apache, MySQL and FTP

You can also stop/start/restart individual services by appending “apache”, “mysql” or “ftp” to the end.

Starting

start – Start XAMPP (Apache, MySQL and eventually others)

startapache – Start only Apache

startmysql – Start only MySQL

startftp – Start only ProFTPD

Stopping

stop – Stop XAMPP (Apache, MySQL and eventually others)

stopapache – Stop only Apache

stopmysql – Stop only MySQL

stopftp – Stop only ProFTPD

Restart

reload – Reload XAMPP (Apache, MySQL and eventually others)

reloadapache – Reload only Apache

reloadmysql – Reload only MySQL

reloadftp – Reload only ProFTPD

restart – Stop and start XAMPP

SSL & Security

security – Check XAMPP’s security

enablessl – Enable SSL support for Apache

disablessl – Disable SSL support for Apache

Config

backup – Make backup file of your XAMPP config, log and data files

oci8 – Enable the oci8 extenssion

GUI Panel

panel – Starts graphical XAMPP control panel

Uninstall

Finally, to uninstall XAMPP, run sudo /opt/lampp/uninstall and then manually remove the /opt/lampp directory if required. This outline should allow you to set up and use XAMPP on Ubuntu effectively for local development purposes.